The invention relates to lifting and moving industrial gas turbines. The invention particularly relates to lifting and moving the casing for power generation sites lacking the capacity to lift or move the entire gas turbine.
Industrial gas turbines are typically large, heavy engines commonly found in power generation sites. The cranes, floor supports and other equipment needed to lift and move gas turbines may not be available in all power generation sites. Similarly, the roads leading to power generation sites may not have sufficient capacity to withstand the weight (mass) of trucks carrying an entire gas turbine.
Many power generation sites do not have a heavy lift crane with the capacity to lift a fully-assembled industrial gas turbine. Where there is insufficient lift capacity, the current practice is to remove the entire upper casing and rotor of a gas turbine to reduce the weight of the remaining turbine. The disassembly and subsequent reassembly process of the gas turbine is time consuming, such as four weeks or longer. The reassembly process also involves time consuming realignments of sections of the gas turbine casing as each section is fastened to other casing sections. There is a long felt need for methods and equipment that made possible lifting and moving of gas turbines at power generation sites that lack facilities to lift and move an entire industrial gas turbine.